That afternoon, old madam Shang invited Lin Jingxian to join them for lunch.
At the dining table, Shang Yushang and He Changning displayed pleasant table manners as they helped each other to add dishes to their plates and occasionally used the serving chopsticks to add appropriate dishes for their grandmother.
Yushang never hid his pampering for his wife, much less cared about how others would view him. From his perspective, there was nothing wrong with pleasing his partner with everything he had and taking charge of every aspect of their lives. To him, it was his responsibility as a husband, which he would gladly oblige to. As he watched Changning happily enjoying his food with those puffy cheeks, it was so adorable that made him want to pull him over for a kiss.
On the other hand, it was easy to know how upset Lin Jinxian was by seeing how she ate her food like she was swallowing candles. Despite that, she could not show it. Her motive today was to meet Shang Yushang and find out what reaction would he show when he saw her. She hoped that they would still have a chance to pick up where they left off. In fact, meeting different partners for the past few years had made her realize how much she missed the man, as her desires for the man continued to grow out of hand. As for that male wife, it was nothing in her eyes. She was sure that a man could never capture the heart of another man. Even if it was just a physical relationship, they would eventually get tired of one another. If they insist on living as a couple, it would only be a matter of time for them to break apart without a child to maintain the relationship.
The other motive she had, was to use their friendship to plead for her uncle. She hoped that Yushang could let her uncle off. After all, her uncle’s efforts for Shang Est. for all these years were clearly evident. Even if he did make a mistake, he should not be treated too ruthlessly.
However, her way of thinking was almost too naïve. Yushang did not express any particular emotion upon meeting each other again – it was almost close to being expressionless. All his focus was on that male wife and that made her really surprised and it was hard to understand. It was a huge change of his personality and a complete opposite from how he was compared to the past. At the very least, she had not heard before that he had liked men and was disinterested in women. A few years back there were rumours going around them, but those were all her assumptions and it was also because she did not have any assurance that Shang Yushang was indeed interested in her, and all sorts of factors involved, that the whole scandal died off without an outcome.
After enduring the difficult lunch together, old madam Shang eventually went to sleep and left the couple to entertain Lin Jingxian.
The smell of the tea brewing spread across the living room as the couple sat on the double seated couch and enjoyed their tea.
Lin Jingxian made an awkward cough and asked, “Are you very busy lately, Yushang?”
Yushang fumbled with Changning’s slender fingers and casually rubbed on that wedding ring worn on the ring finger. “Hm. Just dealt with some matters.” Shang Yushang was not a person who was good at holding long conversations, leaving conversations to end up even more awkward.
As expected, the conversation was hard to continue but Lin Jingxian bit the bullet, “My uncle has caused inconvenience to you.”
“It’s just the norm. It’ll get settled eventually.” Yushang replied plainly without much change in his expression.
“Well, it may be rude for me to say this. Yushang, could you be magnanimous and let my uncle off?” Lin Jingxian could feel her head throbbing as she recalled her aunt’s phone call to her.
In her understanding, it would never be appropriate to approach Shang Yushang without one hundred percent assurance. This time, her uncle had been too impatient. Moreover, how could that brainless Shang Yuchen be evenly matched to Shang Yushang? She had said to her uncle long ago that Shang Yushang was a very sophisticated man and it would not be easy to stir up trouble under his supervision. Yet his uncle was too blinded by power and interest and that led him to make such a fatal mistake. Even if she had come over today to plead on his behalf, she had no idea if it would work at all.
However, he was her uncle who treated her quite well after all. It would be too ungrateful to not help him out at this point. It may even affect her own reputation if others were to hear of it. But Shang Yushang’s unwillingness to speak further made her feel helpless. “I know that uncle did make a big mistake this time. But could you let him off for the fact that he contributed so much to Shang Est. over all these years? He’s old, and I believe he got his punishment already. From now on, he will surely stay in line and never do harm to Shang Est. Please let him off.”
He Changning raised his eyebrow at her words. Using their past kindness to force someone else to be grateful to them. Those were the usual tactics used by those people who sought nothing but profits. If they did not agree to their request, they would be labelled as ungrateful instead. The more they gave in, the more those people would take advantage of them like a bunch of sanctimonious snobs.
Yushang’s expression remained composed as he gently massaged Changning’s hand. His cold gaze swept across Lin Jingxian casually. “A company cannot run well without rules. Repaying one’s debt with past contributions doesn’t work well with me. There are millions of eyes watching in Shang Est. I need to answer to every single one of them. Therefore, Miss Lin, my apologies.”
The invisible pressure made Lin Jingxian felt uncomfortable. The rejection made her angry and embarrassed. How could Yushang compare her uncle to those normal employees? When Shang Est started in their early days, they were just a small start-up company. Without these founding employees, they would never have grown their business till today’s standing. She felt that her uncle was considered to be one of Shang Est.’s biggest helps so far. He may even have more capabilities than Shang Yushang, but looking at the current situation, her uncle no longer had the chance to fight back with him anymore. Was it too much to ask for forgiveness and treat it like a payback?
While she may have a lot of ideas in mind and disagreed with Yushang’s decision, the power was in his hands now. No matter what, it was not the time to fall out with him yet. Perhaps if she swallowed her pride, Yushang may let her uncle off for the sake of their friendship. “Yushang, I understand that it’s putting you in a tough position. I also know that this request can be quite excessive. But my uncle really knows that he’s in the wrong now. He’s willing to fork out all his assets to repay. As long as you can let bygones be bygones, he is willing to leave this place immediately and never appear in front of you ever again. So Yushang, could you let him off just this once seeing how we have known each other for so many years?”
Changning raised his eyebrow again and looked at Yushang. There she goes acting so pitiful and adoring. Shouldn’t Young Master Shang at least give face to your dear childhood sweetheart?!
Yushang received his lover’s mocking gaze and felt a chill running down his back. He faked a cough and said, “Excuse us, Miss Lin. My partner has a habit of taking afternoon naps. We’ll host you again next time.”
Changning turned his face away to avoid looking at the woman’s pale face. Such a straightforward way of showing someone to the door can only be done by the stoic face, Yushang. Yet he did it with such bold confidence. Speaking of which, since when did he have a habit of taking afternoon naps? How dare he use him as an excuse. Just you wait, Shang Yushang.
The older man would rather be taken care of by his wife than let him misunderstand that there was something going on with that woman. He needed to explain himself clearly first and not let this kind of outsider affect his relationship with his wife. How unjust would that be? And had that woman gone crazy already? Since when had they had a close relationship? For the sake of begging for her uncle, she even resort to such measures? What a reckless move. How dare they anger his wife, just you wait.
Lin Jingxian’s expression was almost brilliant as it turned from pale to red, then to purple like the colour palette.
Suppressing her raging anger, she dug her fingers into her palm and forced herself not to scream uncontrollably. With a twisted expression, she said with a trembling voice, “Okay then. We’ll meet up again.” With that, she got up and left.
Yushang naturally took his lover’s hands into his, “Babe, I’ll accompany you for your afternoon nap.”
Changning’s smile did not reach his eyes as he looked at his husband, “Sure. I have something that I would like to ask you as well. Let’s talk about the friendship you have with your childhood sweetheart and also discuss about since when I started having a habit of taking afternoon naps. What do you say?”
Yushang’s smile cracked as he replied, “Hm, I’ll listen to everything you say.”
Yushang then used the entire afternoon until his mouth dried up, and finally regained his wife’s trust. And so, when nightfall arrived, Young Master Shang became shamelessly unreasonable and used everything he knew to bed his wife and slept well that night with a face full of satisfaction.
Changning only woke up in mid afternoon on the next day. The old madam got him to eat up and instructed him to take care of his own health before she went out to visit her friends.
As for this familiar scene of embarrassment, Changning had already gotten used to it. He smiled and accepted the old madam’s concern and love while he mentally scolded that asshole Yushang from head to toe.
Chairman Shang, who was buried in his work, let out a big sneeze and muttered, “There he goes scolding me again.”
His secretary called the internal line and said, “Chairman Shang, there’s a lady called Lin Jingxian looking for you. Should I transfer the line?”
Yushang pondered for a moment before he answered, “Transfer it over.”
“Yes sir.” His secretary then connected Lin Jingxian’s phone call over.
“Hi Yushang, it’s me.”
Yushang’s deep voice travelled to the other end of the call, “You have something to say?”
Lin Jingxian asked carefully, “I haven’t met you for a long time so I would like to treat you a meal. Do you have time?”
“Sorry, I have things to settle.”
“T-Then, how about tomorrow?” Lin Jingxian pestered persistently.
“My apologies. My wife isn’t feeling well these few days. I need to head home early to look after him.”
The obvious rejection made Lin Jingxian speechless and angry, “Okay then. We’ll arrange another time.”
Yushang didn’t even bother to bid goodbye as he hung up the call and got Dazhou to come in, “How’s the progress with Lin Changqing?”
Dazhou dutifully reported the progress of the case, “He was convicted in the first court meeting and was sentence to life imprisonment. Our lawyer gave their best for this case. Besides that, the court also gave an appropriate compensation for Shang Est.’s losses. After Lin Changqing’s assets have been evaluated, we will be compensated at eighty percent of the market price. This is also the result after our lawyer team had appealed to the court. Although Lin Changqing was not agreeable to this ruling and is planning to appeal against it.”
“He won’t let Shang Yuchen off and drag Yin Hao into the picture as well. How’s the situation with Yin family?”
Dazhou ridiculed internally about how his young master only cared about enjoying his days with his wifey and did not care much about all other matters. And that made them, as subordinates, extra busy with all the instructions. “They’re not having a good time recently. Since young master did not make a move on them, it’s almost certain that they will feel as if they’re sitting on nails and be on edge. Yin Zhinian is still in his office maintaining normal operations, whereas Yin Hao already fled overseas.”
“We’re not in a rush to deal with them. It’s not too late to settle them after Lin Changqing’s case. It is more interesting to see them enjoy the experience to descend from heaven to hell, right?” the chilling gaze flashed through Yushang’s eyes again. He would make them pay for everything they had done to Changning all those years.
Dazhou swallowed his saliva and thought, I must never offend young master. No, it’s never offend Young Master Ning. Or I’ll never know how I ended up dead.